


Broken

by eternalester



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Aro/Ace, M/M, Soulmate AU, platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 17:09:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9501782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternalester/pseuds/eternalester
Summary: When your soulmate speaks to you for the first time, the words they have said become a tattoo on your wrist. Dan worries that he'll never find his soulmate, or maybe he doesn't even have one, because he doesn't want a romantic relationship at all. After a talk with his mother, Dan finds out that he's aromantic and that not all soulmates necessarily have to be someone you're dating.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I really like the idea of an aro/ace soulmate au since a soulmate is not at all limited to someone you're romantically involved with. I've never really seen a fic like this before so I decided to write one.

Dan always knew he had something going on with him. When he was a child and just learning about soulmates, other kids would giggle in anticipation, wondering who theirs might be. Dan, however, showed absolutely no signs of caring about having one. 

Unlike Dan, his friends loved the idea of having a soulmate from the moment they found out about it. Of course, being little kids, teasing would usually be the result of learning that they were going to find someone that they'd spend the rest of their lives with.

“I bet your soulmate is Dominic!” one girl would say to another child, who would then crinkle her face in disgust. 

“No! He’s smelly and weird!” the little girl would yell, resulting in laughs from her friends. 

Dan, watching this happen pretty much every day, never really got the point of being in a romantic relationship with anyone. He didn’t want that at all. After a talk with his parents, he figured that maybe it was because he was young and possibly going through a phase. They all agreed to let it pass and have another talk when Dan could understand how amazing it was to have someone love you unconditionally for the rest of your life. 

As they got older, people would make fun of the nerdy girls by telling them to go see if a popular boy was their soulmate. The ones who didn’t roll their eyes in annoyance, but instead fell for the cruel joke, always ended up running away crying when a nervous hello didn’t become a tattoo on their crush’s wrist. One time, a boy told one of the girls that his friend really likes her, so maybe she should go say hello to him and see if they’re soulmates, followed by muffled giggles. The girl ignored them, nose still in her book, but then something weird happened. 

Her wrist became a canvas for a collection of the rude words that the boy had spoken to her. Her face went beet red as she tried to cover the words with her sleeve that was barely long enough to even cover half of her forearm, the boy’s friends erupting with laughter as they realized what had happened. 

Dan watched the incident, silently chuckling at the scene just like the rest of the people watching it were. A brief moment of happiness for them interrupted his discreet teasing. He always loved seeing other people find each other. 

Suddenly, jealousy for them found its way into Dan’s emotions. As far as he could tell, he still had no interest in romantically being with someone at all. He was starting to worry that he possibly wasn't even good enough for a soulmate. His eyes stung with warm tears as he began to realize how truly _broken_ he was. 

That night, he had decided to talk to his parents about his problem. He figured that surely they'd have an answer, wouldn't they?

“Mum, can I talk to you?” Dan asked after dinner. She nodded, but then held up her pointer finger as if to say, _one minute_ , since she was busy doing the dishes. 

Dan walked back to his room, nervously planning what he was going to say. What if she thought he was crazy and tried to admit him into a hospital? What if she told him that he didn't truly appreciate the value of soulmates? 

Dan heard a light knock on his door. “Danny? Can I come in?” his mother’s voice asked. 

“Uh – yeah, come on,” Dan said. 

His mother opened the door, and immediately Dan was bombarded with worry and regret for even wanting to have this conversation in the first place. He couldn't utter a single relevant word, once again beginning to cry as he uselessly mumbled unintelligible noises that turned into whimpers as tears streaked his face. 

“Danny, honey, what's wrong?” his mother asked, immediately rushing to hug him, rubbing his back. Dan cried into her shoulder. 

“Mum, I'm - I'm so broken. I haven't – I don't want a soulmate at all. I mean, like, I _want_ to want one, but like, I haven't been able to find a reason why I should have one. I just - don't ever want to date anyone. Mum, I’m so sorry,” Dan spouted. 

His mother said nothing but kept rubbing his back as his choked sobs filled the otherwise silent room. 

“Danny, I want you to listen carefully to me. Remember when you a little kid and wanted to know why you weren't interested in having a soulmate?” she asked, letting go of Dan but keeping a hand on his shoulder. 

Dan nodded, remembering the days when he thought he would eventually be out of that phase. 

“Let me explain something to you. Have you ever seen two guys who were each other's soulmates, or two girls?” 

Dan thought about one time when his friend had found his soulmate, who happened to be another guy. He had been forced to come out as gay to him that way. 

“Mum, I already _know_ about that kind of stuff. Gays and lesbians, I already know. I thought I was gay for a while, but then I realized _I don't want a soulmate at all._ I'm not gay, Mum, I'm just broken,” he tried to explain before new tears fell down his cheeks after saying that word again. 

His mum hugged him again and spoke once more. “I know what you're saying, Danny, and you didn't let me finish. Homosexuality and heterosexuality aren't the only two out there. Some people are something called asexual, or I guess in your case aromantic. No one really talks about it because not a lot of people understand it, but it definitely exists, and I think that's what you are,” she explained. 

Dan thought for a moment. He's heard the word before, but never truly understood what it meant. 

“Are you saying that I don't have one at all?” he mumbled, knowing that he didn't even desire one, but not even having one was a different story. 

“No, honey, I'm not saying that at all. A soulmate is the person that you're going to end up spending the rest of your life with. It doesn't mean that you're going to be involved romantically with them. Perhaps this person could be a best friend who you’ll have forever. You never know what relationship you're going to have with your soulmate,” she finished. 

Dan thought for a moment. Suddenly everything made sense. All his life he thought that he was just unlovable, but he realized that that wasn't the case at all. He began to feel so much better about himself. Once again he began to cry, but this time it was from happiness. He hugged his mother again.

* * *

“Everyone, we have a new student today. Say hello to Phil,” Mr. Johnson, Dan’s English teacher, announced. Beside him stood the most innocent looking boy Dan had ever seen. He had such kind eyes that were one of the lightest shades of blue, with a bright smile that could lighten the mood of anybody. In fact, Dan’s own mouth began to curl up just from looking at Phil’s face. 

“Why don't you sit right there, in between Dan and Carly?” Mr. Johnson said, pointing. 

Phil took his seat, putting his bag on the ground. Dan watched him, taken aback by how beautiful the boy looked. He couldn't really explain why, but Phil just looked so _happy_. Dan was shocked by how simple something like this improved his mood. 

His staring didn't really last long, however, as the boy had caught him. Dan blushed and impulsively looked away, Phil chuckling lightly. 

A few minutes passed before Mr. Johnson asked the class to take out their books so they can write down notes. 

Phil turned to Dan, asking if he had a pencil he could borrow. Dan nodded and reached into his bag. 

Suddenly, Dan noticed that the exact words Phil had just spoken to him were now on his wrist. Shocked and speechless, his hand went to his mouth. Phil noticed the words too, his eyes growing bigger. 

“You’re my –“ Dan uttered, eyes blazing with joy as him and Phil locked eyes. Phil’s wrist was now marked with those words. Dan blushed in embarrassment, realizing that what Phil will now have forever on his wrist wasn’t even a coherent sentence. 

“This doesn’t make sense though, I’m – “ Phil began. 

“Aromantic? Yeah, me too. Apparently soulmates can be really close friends too,” Dan explained. 

Phil’s almost natural smile became even bigger as he fully grasped what was happening. He couldn’t help but hug Dan. 

“So we’re going to be best friends for the rest of our lives?” Phil asked into Dan’s shoulder. He felt Dan nod. 

“Excuse me, is there something important that you two want to share with the class since you think your conversation is much more important than my lesson?” Mr. Johnson hissed. 

The two boys blushed and immediately fell silent, even though it was quite difficult. Another boy noticed the tattoos on their wrists that hadn’t been there before and spoke up. 

“Mr. Johnson, those two are soulmates!” he spurted with joy for them. The class all began to fix their eyes on the boys, even the teacher. People started demanding to see the tattoos, laughing at what was on Phil’s wrist when they were brave enough to share the words. 

The hype lasted for about three minutes or so before the teacher asked the kids to quiet down again, a smile on his face as he congratulated the boys one last time before continuing his lesson.

* * *

Dan and Phil walked home together, properly introducing themselves to each other during their time together. 

“I actually think this whole ‘best friend as your soulmate’ thing is so cool and not talked about enough. I mean, isn’t it great that people who don’t want to be romantically involved with anyone still get to spend their lives with somebody? Imagine how close you’d have to be with a friend in order to be soulmates,” Phil explained. 

Dan nodded. “I can’t wait to see my mom’s reaction to this. She’s been so worried about me lately. I looked up soulmates being your best friend, and apparently in that situation people don’t usually find each other until really late in life, since you’re going to have a whole lot of best friends in your life. I’m just so happy that that wasn’t the case for us,” he said. 

They walked through the door of Dan’s house and found his mother in the kitchen cooking dinner. Dan called for her to get her attention so she could see Phil. 

She stepped into the living room where the boys were, her spatula still in hand, and noticed Phil. “Aw, Danny, you brought home a friend? Why didn’t you text me earlier? I would have started dinner for four people instead of for your father and us,” she told him. 

Dan smiled, the excitement of telling his mom that he found his soulmate surging through him as he held up his wrist to show her the first words Phil spoke to him. Picking up on what Dan was doing, Phil held up his wrist as well. 

Dan’s mother immediately dropped the spatula in shock, rushing toward the boys to hug them, not caring about the food she had gotten all over the carpet as she bombarded them with questions. 

“When did this happen? Why didn’t you text me? Actually, thank you for not texting me. You shouldn’t tell me something this big through text. But seriously, when did this happen?” she asked. 

Dan attempted to quiet her, Phil giggling as this unfolded. 

“Mum, calm down. It happened in English. He’s new to this school,” Dan explained to her. 

“Sorry, honey, I’m just so happy for you guys,” she said, once again hugging Dan, pulling Phil into a group hug. 

“Well, um, we’re just going to hang out in my room for a bit. So can you tell us when dinner’s done, Mum?” Dan asked. His mother nodded and walked back into the kitchen, cursing under her breath at the spatula she had dropped earlier.

* * *

Now, years had gone by. Dan and Phil have decided to move in together after they graduated. They’d even gotten a dog that they were currently buying food for. 

“What kind did you say he liked?” Dan asked Phil without looking at him, searching through the shelves. 

Phil rolled his eyes, contemplating whether or not he should tell him for the fourth time that day. Throughout the years he had noticed how truly forgetful Dan was. 

Growing a bit impatient for an answer, Dan looked back at Phil expectedly. “Are you gonna tell me or not?”

Phil shrugged. “You know, I’ve already told you three times today. Why can’t you remember what kind of food your own dog eats?” he asked. 

“Phil, you know how I forget things a lot. I don’t know why you can’t just stop being childish and tell me,” Dan said extremely defensively, causing Phil to laugh. 

“You don’t have to yell at me about it, Dan,” he said, still chuckling. 

“Just fucking tell me what this dog needs,” Dan snapped. Phil began laughing again at how mad Dan had gotten over this little thing, knowing he only cursed when he was really angry. 

Dan once again rolled his eyes and picked some random can off the shelf that was definitely not what their dog ate, putting it in the cart, not caring anymore as he began to roll it away. 

“I love you.”

Dan stopped in his tracks and turned to face Phil again, who was again on the edge of more laughter. He grumpily sighed and walked over to hug his best friend. 

“I love you too. Now tell me again what this damn dog needs.”


End file.
